“Talent is God-given, be humble,” reminds John Wooden. “Fame is man-given, be grateful. Conceit is self-given, be careful.” Fame, someone once said, is Madonna while success is Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The 1979 Nobel Peace Prize recipient herself commented, “Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”
Helen Keller, an American author and educator who was blind and deaf, pointed out: “I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
This brings us to the subject of humility, a quality or characteristic ascribed to a person who is considered to be humble. A humble person is generally thought to be unpretentious and modest: someone who does not think that he or she is better or more important than others. The concept of humility in various religions is often much more precise and extensive. Humility is not to be confused with humiliation, which is the act of making someone else feel ashamed, and is something completely different.
“He who is humble is confident and wise,” Lisa Edmonson, chief executive officer and founder of Ultimate Life, reminds. “He who brags is insecure and lacking.” I am sure you have encountered people who have egos bigger than their heads. They should take heed the words of American politician Diana Black, “Big egos are big shields for lots of empty space.”
American essayist and lecturer Ralph Waldo Emerson contends, “Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, and it is to be humble.” Albert Einstein, a German-born American physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity, admits, “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
Among Christians, the virtue of humility is defined as: “a quality by which a person considering his own defects has a humble opinion of himself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God’s sake.” Saint Thomas Aquinas offers this definition: “The virtue of humility consists in keeping oneself within one’s own bounds, not reaching out to things above one, but submitting to one’s superior.”
Humility removes pride and makes a man subject to and a fit recipient of grace according to the words of Apostle James (4:6): “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal explains: “Two kinds of persons know Him: those who have a humble heart, and who love lowliness, whatever kind of intellect they may have, high or low; and those who have sufficient understanding to see the truth, whatever opposition they may have to it.”
French classical author Francois de la Rochefoucauld observed, “Plenty of people want to be pious, but no one yearns to be humble.” British scholar and novelist C.S. Lewis answered, “The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.”
At one point in time, American boxer Muhammad Ali was “the greatest.” He admitted himself: “When you are as great as I am it is hard to be humble.” As they say, history repeats itself. But we can learn from the past, or from the experiences of those before us.
In Taoism, humility is considered an important virtue. According to the Tao Te Ching, “(A wise person) acts without claiming the results as his; he achieves his merit and does not rest (arrogantly) in it: — he does not wish to display his superiority.”
Leaders – be it in government or private institutions – should also observe humility. As American speaker and author Jim Rohn suggests it: “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”
Leading English art critic John Ruskin believes, “The first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.”
Confucius said, “Humility is the solid foundation of all the virtues.” The story of Peter Miller, pastor of a little Baptist church in Ephrata, Philadelphia, was told by Walter D. Cavert in his book, Ours Is The Faith. It happened during the American Revolution.
According to the story, Miller was well-liked by the people – except for one person who scorned all religion and opposed the church on every issue. No friend of the American Colonial cause, this man had been arrested for treason and sentenced to die.
Writes Cavert: “The minister walked 60 miles to plead with George Washington for the man’s pardon. Regretfully, the general shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, but I cannot grant your request to spare your friend.’ Quietly, Miller replied, ‘My friend? He is my worst enemy.’ Amazed, Washington exclaimed: ‘What! You have walked all this distance to save an enemy? Then what can I do other than pardon him!’”
“The true way to be humble is not to stoop till you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that shall show you what the real smallness of your greatest greatness is,” Phillips Brooks declared.
However, there is always the other side of humility. This old Jewish joke proves. In the village synagogue, during the High Holydays, the rabbi prostrates himself on the floor, saying, “God, before You I am nothing.” Immediately, the richest man in town prostrates himself on the floor, saying, “God, before You I am nothing.”
Right after that the town beggar prostrates himself on the floor, saying, “God, before You I am nothing,” the rich man whispers to the rabbi, “Look who thinks he is nothing.”
